Cher in Bob Mackie, 1986

Cher on stage at the 58th Academy Awards in March 1986, where she presented Best Supporting Actor to Don Ameche. Bob Mackie made the beaded black two-piece, cut to bare the midriff, with a towering feathered headdress. Cher had just been passed over for Mask, and the outfit is widely read as her answer: by Mackie's account she wanted the room to see her looking like her old self again, not like a housewife in an evening dress. Every rule-breaking Oscar look since gets measured against this one.